Another festival season is damn near over. Color me crushed. And exhausted.Summer’s end always makes me sad but as much as I hate to admit it, hopeful. Don’t tell anyone I have a reputation to maintain. By the end of summer, I’m fucking tired. I need Fall and as much as I even further hate to admit- Winter. I need a goddamn break after all the lakeside bike rides, the sweaty street festivals, and the weekend-long treks back and forth to a festival. I need an excuse to lay in sweatpants and watch Netflix. It seems like an odd time to start a series about festivals and concerts perhaps. Sure, the concerts still rage on in the winter. Winter shows just have a different flavor. The wardrobe, footwear, and venues change but the music still goes on despite the notorious Chicago Winter. The cold weather brings a time of forced reflection. A time to reflect and not be distracted by the warm day and the sunny breeze. A time to reflect on all that I love about a good show, what I adore about squeezing through a crowd to stand with a bunch of strangers just so I can be that much closer to the band. Yes, I also will bitch about what I hate and life rules I just wish people would abide by. My rules. If people would just follow my rules but like in a no-rule loving way that just simply included some damn common decency as I see fit. Perhaps this entry will be the first in a series about me bitching about what I wish people knew at shows, perhaps some helpful advice. I’m not quite sure where this will all go honestly. Let me pretend to be wise and all knowing and use my concert knowledge for good not evil. Ok, some evil but good evil, fun evil.

Full disclosure: Here I am bitching about winter and festival season being over. I am heading out to Riot Festival this weekend to put a nice little finish to all my summer shows. I refuse to admit summers over until after Riot Fest.

I swear fashion isn’t what you think it is. Countless times I’ve heard fashion doesn’t matter to me. So you are telling me you roll out of bed whatever material happens to adhere itself to your body is what you wear? Let’s just cover the naughty bits and get on with our day? Go on, try this. Please. I’ll wait right here. Let me know how this goes. In fact, simply put on someone else jeans, even in your size. Fashion does matter. We ALL choose things because they reflect who we are, what we reflect onto the world and what we are comfortable in. So tell me again, fashion doesn’t matter to you.

It sometimes makes me ill to think that my desire to make clothes is actually involving myself in such a sick industry. The only job theoretically that I could do more harm to the environment is if I made a job transfer to a nice oil company. That’s insane. Last time I checked I just wanted to make clothes.

It’s my decision to make clothes that some deem too pricey. Wal-mart sells cheap shirts, why can’t I? Am I really just part of the problem anyways?

All I can promise is my clothes aren’t killing people. Every person, (besides me) is not suffering to make my clothes. Lives are not being cut short to work in unsafe working environment to sew my clothes. Nobody is handling chemicals that will slowly poison them. My clothes had no temporary home on these deplorable factory floors.

Because I made that choice. Don’t get me wrong as an independent designer I could never complete for price. Never. The choice to do the opposite isn’t exactly cheap.

I choose to not choose the cheapest way to make my clothes and not to make cheap clothes. I will not kill people to get a better price. No, really. You will not walk away will a $20 bag of clothes from me. I have no interest in that race.

And It’s not about every purchaser make being perfect and mindful. It’s about choosing wisely when and often as you can and all of us choosing a world we want to live in.

If you would like to educate yourself more on the subject I highly suggest “The True Cost” currently on Netflix . It’s a great watch to see how fashion and our purchasing choices affect the world we live in.

And yes, I can spell easy.

Self expression can be daunting. In the last few weeks many people are finding themselves expressing themselves perhaps far more than even planned, including me. It’s great to live somewhere that we can express ourselves.

2 Days left on my Kickstarter!!! It’s at 96% of the goal and I am so excited!!! Yesterday Sara P. Lovejoy was featured in my hometown’s newspaper The Post Journal. It was a great story written by Mallory Diefenbach and I was very pleased. The whole page no less! In these last few days of the campaign I am humbled and loving the support. Thanks everyone!!!!

Move slow. Choose people and quality before quantity. Ponder the creation. Those who count their wins by their arms full of meaningless junk will stumble, unable to catch themselves on the community that they forgot to build. #Slowfashionmovement